More Than Just a Story
by Illusive
Summary: Everyone knows exactly what Sora and Riku were doing throughout the story of Kingdom Hearts… but what about Kairi? How did she feel about everything that had happened and changed her life?


**Title:** More Than Just a Story

**Author:** Illusive

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts, if I did I wouldn't be lusting after Kingdom Hearts II. Heh.

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** Everyone knows exactly what Sora and Riku were doing throughout the story of Kingdom Hearts… but what about Kairi? How did she feel about everything that had happened and changed her life?

**Author's Note:** Okay… this one is like totally different from what I usually write but… meh… I don't expect much response for this but I wrote what I wrote ne? Yeah, I know I should be working on my chapter fic but… (Rolls eyes)

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One-Shot

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Let me tell you a story…

It's not a regular fairytale…

Nor is it a tragedy…

In fact, in its own way, it's a bit of both and more. You may be thinking about where I would come across such a peculiar tale. That's easy to answer, but just let me introduce the main characters and you'll see. There are three roles in this. One is a kind-hearted soul, Sora. Another is bold and courageous, Riku. Lastly, there's me. If you'll stay and listen you'll hear my story about courage, strength, hope, friendship, endurance, and the promises that held us together. You see… this is more than a story, it was our life.

The only way to start a story like this is by starting at the very beginning. My beginning was on an island called Destiny Islands. Well, it's not truly the beginning of my life, but anything before the island comes as a blur; a blur that I have no strong want to clear up. Anyways, I was fortunate enough to be adopted by the mayor of the island. There I met my two closest friends, Sora and Riku.

We did everything together. We played together every day along with Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka. Life as we knew it was only for us to have fun together. We had no real purpose in life. You have to know this: when someone has no meaning to live, their life will mean nothing to them. When that happens you start to think about more. What I mean by this is that you start to think about what other things are out there besides what you have.

This happened to us when we finally grew out of all our childish ways. Not to say we weren't still naïve, but either way, maybe it was naivety that pulled us all through and got us together again. Now the question you're all thinking is: what do you mean 'together again?'. Who left? Well, we had one wish and that was to go to other worlds. So we started to build a raft. Maybe I should have been the sensible one and stopped all the thought of leaving the haven we were in. It's true that you never know what you have until you lose it and you have to be careful what you wish for. It was then that…

I lost the two most important people to me…

I lost Riku to the dark, but Sora, I lost to the light.

Me? I guess I was just the one who gave hope for those who had the strength to actually take initiative.

Suddenly we all had a purpose in life, but we weren't with each other for support. We were alone…

You know what's hard? It's hard to wake up and realize that someone you love had given his heart just so you could live again. It's even harder to know that, somewhere along the lines, all of this was partly the fault of another you loved. It was then I realized that the 'boring' life we led on Destiny Islands wasn't as bad as I deemed it to be. At least there we were all together.

Thankfully, I learned from all of this and did not take for granted that I had Sora now even when Riku was still lost. However, it wasn't a time where I could be selfish. Sora had to go and defeat the heartless. I had to learn to let him go, and I did. It hurt though; it hurt to see him walk away with only a promise that he'll come back to me even though we both knew he could be marching off to his death.

I never said 'don't go'. Why? Because I knew that life wasn't about what I wanted anymore. It was about what needed to be done. With that one resolve, I had lost Sora again. From that moment, I didn't know if he was safe or even if he had been able to save Riku from the darkness in his heart. Yet I clung onto the naïve hope that he would pull through because he never broke promises, and I wasn't about to let him start no matter what the circumstances were.

Once upon a time… Riku had promised to protect me…

He never broke that promise, not even when he was lost to the dark.

Once upon a time… Sora had promised to come back to me…

He did and he brought Riku back too…

Once upon a time… I had promised to wait for them no matter how long it took.

I waited; they came back…

I can't say we had a happily ever after because you can't just write off a whole ending with one phrase. In fact, how happy could it be when I had to lose them again? Yes, I could have hid that bottled note I found once they had come back, but I didn't because I learned a lot from our friendship and ordeals. I learned how to have the courage and strength to have hope that our friendship would endure because of the trust we had in each other's promises.

Even though I have to lose them again, I know someday we will be together in our home. Because home is where the heart is, and our hearts, well, they belong together.


End file.
